Hitting out at the Jammu and Kashmir police over the arrests of a local preacher and an artist, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that “Kashmir is an open prison”.
“People all over the world are protesting against the atrocities committed by Israel on Palestine. But in Kashmir its a punishable offence where an artist is booked under PSA & a preacher is arrested simply for expressing solidarity with Palestinians,” Mehbooba tweeted.
Her reaction comes just a day after J&K Police arrested religious preacher Sarjan Barkati for allegedly delivering an Eid sermon in support of Palestine.
During his brief speech of about six minutes, Barkati had talked about the current situation in Gaza and praised the courage of Palestinians, dubbing them “victims” and raised slogans in favour of Palestine.
The J&K Police also arrested local artist Mudasir Gul allegedly for his pro-Palestine graffiti in Srinagar.
The police before taking Gul into custody from his residence at Padshahi Bagh had forced him to rub his painting, which he defaced with patches of black point.
Following these developments, the PDP chief said the police is monitoring “people’s thoughts” in J&K and punishing them for it.
“Kashmir is an open air prison where people’s thoughts are being monitored & they are punished for it. There is no outlet left to express one’s opinion & this is a deliberate attempt to push Kashmiris to the wall,” Mehbooba tweeted.
She further said that “Expressing solidarity with Palestine is no crime.”
